The Coalition in
Australian politics refers to a group of
centre-right parties that has existed in the form of a
coalition agreement since 1922. The Coalition partners are the
Liberal Party of Australia (or its predecessors before 1945) and the
National Party of Australia (known as the Australian Country Party from 1921-1975 and the National Country Party of Australia from 1975-1982); although this includes merged versions of these parties in the
Northern Territory and
Queensland. The Coalition's main rival for government is invariably the centre-left
Australian Labor Party.
Except for Queensland, the Liberal party has almost always been the stronger Coalition partner, so it is the Liberal leader who usually becomes the Prime Minister or Premier if the parties win government.
The status of the Coalition varies across the Commonwealth and States. Below is the status of each State on a State by State basis.
At the Federal level, there is a Coalition between the Liberals, Nationals and Country Liberal Party. This was briefly broken in 1987, but was renewed after the 1987 federal election.[1] In September 2008, Barnaby Joyce became leader of the Nationals in the Senate, with the party moving to the crossbenches. Joyce stated that his party in the upper house would no longer necessarily vote with their Liberal counterparts.[2][3][4]
